Rulindo: miners cling to hard-work despite hardships

Some of miners in Rutongo Mines in Rulindo district say that they are aware that their kind of work is tiresome and risky but they would rather do it instead of begging or stealing for their families.

These miners are made up of males who are either young or adults; fully understand that mining in the Rutongo Mines is risking their lives which can be fatal but they go on with their day to day work in order to provide for their families even though they are overexploited and under paid.

The Rutongo Mines which are in Murambi sector are so deep under the world that just walking through gives a person shivers. The miners who preferred to remain anonymous say that they are not valued by their employers according to the type of work they do and how they are treated.

“Our work is very risky but at least it prevents us from crime of stealing. The bad thing with this work is no one is supposed to talk about our problems to be addressed, whoever complains is expelled without your salary, so we keep quiet no matter what.” One of them explained.

Another person added on, “no leader ever comes here to have a meeting with us workers the way forward or to hear our grievances; whoever comes here is to give instructions of which we cannot go against or discuss.

They do not value us as workers but what we produce and their profits and the lives of us who work underground are meaningless”.

They are deducted some money on their salaries every month for Insurance but unfortunately it is said they are not in any insurance and when they try to ask questions, they do not get any explanations.

They also pay for medical insurance in RAMA which is deducted on their salaries too but unfortunately they have never used this insurance to pay for their medical bills. They say that its becoming too much for them and they need the district officials to look into their problems and help them solve them especially health issues.